1977

After the arrival of the new DHARMA recruits, Chang was tasked with taking Amy's place because of her son's birth. He was assigned to giving new members their jumpsuits and work duties. One of these newcomers was Jack Shephard, who was given the job of "Workman" based on his entrance exam. ("Namaste")

Two days later, his adult son Miles - who had traveled through time from 2004, and was working as a security officer for DHARMA, unbeknown to Pierre - was asked to deliver a dead body to Chang at the Orchid station. At the station, Miles revealed to Hurley that Chang was his father; Miles himself discovered this information when his mother walked in line behind him at the cafeteria three days after the time shifts stopped. Dr. Chang was unhappy that Miles brought Hurley along, and angry that Hurley knew about the body. He threatened Hurley with the task of weighing polar bear feces on Hydra Island if he talked, but Hurley agreed to keep the secret. Miles and Hurley then gave Dr. Chang a ride back to Radzinsky at the Swan construction site. Along the way, Hurley kept dropping hints about the relationship between Miles and Pierre, which upset Miles. ("Some Like It Hoth")

Later at night, Chang was reading baby Miles a story, when the phone rang and informed him that scientists from Ann Arbor arrived via the submarine. As he walked outside, he found Miles (who was watching his baby-self and his father's bonding time), and asked him for a ride. The two arrived at the dock, and welcomed the scientists, including Daniel Faraday. ("Some Like It Hoth")

The next morning, at 8:15 a.m., Chang woke up at his home in the Barracks next to his wife. He put on a record ("Shotgun Willie" by Willie Nelson) and gave baby Miles a bottle before getting ready for the day. Before he left, the record began to skip. Inside one of the buildings, he began shooting the first take of the second DHARMA Initiativeorientation video, this time for the Arrow station, but was interrupted by a worker concerned about a problem at the Orchid.

Chang drove in a DHARMA van to the Orchid, still under construction, where underground excavators destroyed six drill heads trying to drill into a seemingly impenetrable wall of rock. The foreman told Chang that there was an open chamber behind the wall, and showed him an ultrasound print-out which revealed that there was something behind the wall. Chang disclosed to the foreman that an incredible amount of energy was sealed on the other side of the wall, almost limitless, and enough to make space and time travel possible. Chang told the foreman to do nothing more to the wall because the energy could be harmfully released by doing so. As Chang left the tunnel, he bumped into Daniel Faraday. ("Because You Left")

After bumping into Chang, Daniel approached him. He asked Pierre to order the evacuation of everyone on the island, claiming that in a matter of hours, the scientists at the under-construction Swan station would drill into an electromagnetic anomaly, releasing an energy 30,000 times more powerful than that found in The Orchid. When Chang refused to believe him, Faraday confessed that he was from the future. He attempted to back up his claim by showing Chang equations from 20 years in the future, and tried to get Miles to admit to Chang that he was his son, and that they had traveled through time together. Chang refused to believe Daniel, and when Miles denied being Chang's son, Chang left. ("The Variable")

Chang followed Hurley, Miles and Jin and encountered them on their way back to the beach. He asked if they were really from the future. Hurley denied it. To determine the truth, Chang quizzed Hurley with questions relevant to 1977. Hurley struggled with the answers, being unsure of his birth year, the current president of the U.S., or whether the Korean War was a real event. Flustered, Hurley finally admitted that he was from the future. Chang asked Miles if it is true that he is his father, and Miles reluctantly affirmed that he was. Having confirmed his suspicions, Chang revealed that he now believed what Daniel told him about needing to evacuate the entire Island.

Chang returned to the Barracks to see Horace and stumbled on the bloody and bruised Sawyer. He told Horace, Radzinsky, and the others to stop the drilling at The Swan and ordered them to evacuate the Island.

However, Radzinsky, irritated by Chang's orders, insisted on continuing the drilling and when Chang appealed to Horace, Radzinsky claimed that he would be in charge now. Sawyer agreed with Chang and proposed a deal to Radzinsky: if he and Juliet could leave the Island with the submarine, he would tell Radzinsky everything he wanted to know. As a result, he demanded that Sawyer drew a map of the position of the Hostiles. Sawyer and Juliet were then taken away to the sub. ("Follow the Leader")

Chang also ordered his wife and son to leave the Island as part of DHARMA's evacuation. Miles and Lara left the Island without Pierre. Years later on her deathbed, Lara told Miles that his father kicked them out when he was a baby and that he had been dead for a long time. ("Some Like It Hoth")

Chang headed to The Swan site, to demand the shutting down of the drill because of the potential dangers of hitting the pocket of energy. Radzinsky, who had arrived there previously, refused to stop the drilling. Chang attempted to turn off the drill, telling Radzinsky that the drill was growing too hot, but Radzinsky switched it back on, saying that they had enough water to cool the drill down.

Chang was continually concerned at the readings the drill produced, which were showing huge spikes in power and energy. When Jack approached the Swan site, Phil and the security team began firing at him. Kate, Juliet, Miles, and Sawyer came to his aid, and Pierre assisted them by taking Radzinsky's gun and holding it to his head. Pierre again attempted to shut off the drill, but he was unable to. Eventually the drill hit the pocket of energy, and the Earth below started rumbling. Objects (seemingly all made of metal) started to be dragged into the hole. After Jack dropped the bomb, which had failed to detonate on impact, Chang tried again to stop the drill. However, the pocket of energy dragged the entire drill down into the hole, crushing Chang's left arm in the process. Miles helped him free his arm pinned under the beams, and Chang fled the site. ("The Incident, Part 2")

1980

Three years later, Pierre appeared in the Swan Orientation film, explaining the button protocol and briefly referencing the Incident. At this time he was seen with a prosthetic hand, the result of his injury sustained in The Incident. It is unknown what became of Pierre after 1980, as he has not been seen since. It is likely though that he died on the Island in the Purge, as Lara had told Miles that his father's body was "somewhere you can never go." ("Some Like It Hoth")

DHARMA Orientation Videos

DHARMA Films

Chang usually wore professional looking attire for his videos, often including a lab coat. The lab coat featured either a Flame or Swan logo.

In the Pearl and Orchid videos, Chang appeared to have use of his left arm; however, in the Swan and Flame films, he did not, probably due to his arm being trapped during The Incident. In the Barracks video, he did not move his left arm, suggesting it might have been a cosmetic device. Since the Barracks and The Flame were already constructed at the time of The Incident, and only The Orchid and The Swan appeared to be under construction, it is likely that some of the videos were shot before the Incident and some shot after despite when their respective stations were built. All of the films seem to have been released around 1980, regardless of when filmed. ("The Incident, Part 2")

Pierre warns in the Hydra Orientation film that if people divulge his name to outside parties, he will have to use aliases. Apparently someone does, as in the following films he uses different names. ("The New Man in Charge") Portions of all his false names relate to candles (candle, wick, wax).

Arrow orientation film

Pierre Chang was seen recording this orientation film. He introduced himself as Dr. Marvin Candle, again. He wore a lab coat bearing the Swan logo. He stated, the purpose of this station was to gather intelligence and devise defensive strategies against the Island's hostiles. He was interrupted before he could finish the orientation film. ("Because You Left")

Swan orientation film

Chang first appeared in an orientation film bearing a 1980 copyright and found in the Swan station. He introduced himself as Dr. Marvin Candle, and gave a brief history of the DHARMA Initiative and Alvar Hanso. Chang stressed to DHARMA employees the importance of pushing the button to avoid another "incident" ("Orientation"). A part of the film was edited by Radzinsky, Kelvin Inman's partner, where Chang warned not to use the Swan computer for anything but entering the numbers. ("What Kate Did")

Pearl orientation film

Chang's next appearance was in the Pearl orientation film bearing a 1980 copyright, where he introduced himself as Dr. Mark Wickmund. The DeGroots couple was mentioned again. Chang stated that the personnel at another station were the subjects of a psychological experiment. He did not identify the other station during his presentation. Chang also explained how the pneumatic tube works, and introduced the Pala Ferry and the Barracks. Later, the Survivors came across the Capsule dump. The proliferation of apparently ignored capsules at the dump suggested that the personnel at the Pearl were the true experimental subjects or that the DHARMA staff stopped collecting the capsules. ("?")

Flame film

Chang appeared in a random access video on the computer at the Flame station (accessed by beating a chess game) which allowed the manual override of various system functions. This video was not an orientation; it was a procedures explanation, including a procedure for initiating a self-destruct sequence at the Flame in the event of an incursion by the Hostiles. In this video, the DHARMA lab coat Chang was wearing featured a Flame logo. The end of the video was not seen and the copyright date is unknown. Chang did not introduce himself. ("Enter 77")

Barracks orientation film

An orientation video, apparently shown to new members of the DHARMA Initiative starting in the 1970s, was also narrated by Chang, who cautioned the importance of remaining within the sonar fence surrounding the Barracks for protection from the "wildlife" of the Island. ("The Man Behind the Curtain") Chang was wearing a lab coat, bearing what appears to be the Swan logo. He gestured with his right hand and it is highly likely that his left arm was mobile as this video was likely one of, if not the, first orientation filmed prior to the Incident. He did not introduce himself in this film.

Orchid orientation film

At the Orchid Station, Ben showed Locke an orientation video, where Chang described the station's purpose, having to do with the Casimir effect. He conducted an experiment involving rabbits, which was cut when the video started rewinding without any explanation. In this film, Chang introduced himself as Dr. Edgar Halliwax. Ben used Chang's parka, with the name Halliwax on it, when he went down to the frozen room beneath the vault. ("The Shape of Things to Come") ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 3")

Outside of Lost episodes

DVD bonus features

Comic Con 2007

In late July 2007, a new orientation video was shown at Comic Con and released on ABC's Lost website for the Orchid, in which Chang appears, referring to himself as "Edgar Halliwax." In this deleted "blooper" from the orientation film, he is about to explain the purpose of the Orchid station when a catastrophe causes the filming to be cut short.

Comic Con 2008

Chang's message from the past

On July 26, 2008 at Comic Con, a video shot by DHARMA recruit, Dan Bronson, was shown during the Lost panel which had a video of Chang talking to Comic Con audiences in the present from 30 years in the past, stating that he knew George W. Bush is the president, information is exchanged via the Internet, and that this information came from a reliable source. During this video, Chang stated that he was recruited to the island to study the Kerr Metric solutions to Einstein's Field Equations. He also knew that the entire DHARMA Initiative—including himself—would be killed in a "purge" (which he said they were "powerless to stop"), and claimed it was imperative that the DHARMA Initiative be reconstituted to finish the important work he and his colleagues had been engaged in. The unidentified man filming him argued with Chang, saying "This is useless!" and eventually turned the camera off.

In an August 9, 2008 email, Hans Van Eeghen of DHARMA reported to DHARMA recruits that a security breach had occurred at Comic Con 2008 his message included the following statement:

“

"The DHARMA Initiative must stress that the video material leaked at Comic-Con 2008 was viewed entirely out of context. Furthermore, the way in which the material was presented utterly distorted its significance and credibility as scientific data."

”

The producers of the show later declared that this video related to a storyline that was eventually not used on the show, therefore making the video non-canon.

Lost Untangled

Dr. Chang was the co-host of Lost: The Final Season Untangled, along with a Puppet version of Himself. He started to appear in these episodes since the "Untangled" version of Happily Ever After and as a simile of the melding of timelines. The Puppet version, who hosted the previous episodes, claimed he was the true "Untangler". His methods to explain the episodes became a source of annoyance to Dr. Chang. The Puppet even refers to him to as "doppelgänger".

Trivia

Out of all the main characters, he has been shown meeting Jack, Miles, Hurley, Daniel, Jin, Sawyer, and Juliet. Pierre presumably had met the younger version of Charlotte off-screen, since she confirms as much to Daniel. He also most likely met Kate when she checked in and was given her work assignment along with Jack, Hurley, and the rest of the DHARMA recruits.

Dr. Chang has met two different ages of his own son, Miles when he was an infant, and the adult Miles who works for the DHARMA Initiative as a security officer.

Several characters have been shown the orientation films, which he narrated:

Ben watched the Barracks orientation film on the day he arrived on the island.

Actor François Chau is one of six actors playing a recurring character who was given billing with the rest of the main cast for the only time in "The End". Prior to this episode, he had never been credited for his portrayal.

This means that Pierre Chang's first and only credit within the series is as a main cast member.

A Puppet version of Chang is the Host of Lost: The Final Season Untangled. François Chau himself makes a cameo as his character at the end of the 11th episode, followed by sounds of the Smoke Monster. The Chang puppet was scared and runs desperately after he sees this version of Himself. The real Chang seemed confused. He returned in another episode to untangle it himself. The puppet Chang claimed he was from some alternate reality and can't do his job. As a result, they both untangled the episode together with far different styles clashing. He also appeared in the final untangled episode and gave the Complete DVD Lost set to the puppet as a gift.

Name

He has worn a Swan logo coat or a Flame logo coat in every video except one in which he wore a turtle-neck and sport-coat.

"Marvin," a variant of "Mervin" is of Welsh origin, meaning "sea friend." Some derive this name from Myrddin, the Welsh name of King Arthur's wizardly tutor (known in English as Merlin), a name that means "sea fortress."

The last names "Candle," "Wickmund," and "Halliwax" are each references to candles.

Candles are among the most primitive time-keeping devices.

His research revolves around the island's energy source, aka "the light".

Chang means "free" or "unhindered". When combined with his first name, Peter, which means "rock" this could be combined as "free from the rock", a potential reference to the process of escaping the Island.

In BABYLON 5 "Dr. Chang" was the person at Interplanetary Expeditions responsible for the ill-fated expedition examining the ancient ruins of the Shadows' planet Za'ha'dum.

François is the French version of the first name of pilot Frank J. Lapidus. Lapis and petra are Latin synonyms.

François Chau and Pierre Chang both have a French first name and an Asian surname.

Other

Michael Faraday (i.e., Daniel's namesake) gave famously popular lectures titled, "The Chemical History of a Candle."

In all of his real-life appearances (i.e. non-DHARMA videos), Chang appears to be very irritable: he grumbles about the disorganization of the inductions team at the Orientation office, is visibly angry when his Arrow video filming is interrupted, and in the Orchid, snaps at Daniel Faraday who accidentally bumps into him, though he has been seen as reading, playing, and laughing with Miles as an infant.